It is generally known to provide a vehicle including a vehicle frame. It is generally known to provide a cab-on-frame type vehicle where a cab or body is produced and then installed on the separately produced and shipped vehicle frame. The body-on-frame structure may be used for a pickup type vehicle.
A small overlap frontal crash test is designed to replicate what happens when only a relatively small portion of the front corner of a vehicle collides with another object like a vehicle, tree, utility pole, or the like. To test vehicles for this type of performance, a small overlap frontal test has been developed. In the small overlap frontal test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward a 5-foot-tall rigid barrier and only the outer 25% of the vehicle width is impacted into the barrier. It is generally understood that most modern vehicles are designed to have safety cages encapsulating the occupant compartment and built to withstand head-on and overlap frontal crashes with controlled and limited deformation. This is because the crush zones of the main body and frame structures are designed to manage the crash energy to reduce forces on the occupant compartment and its occupants. When a crash involves these structures, the occupant compartment is generally protected from intrusion, and the airbags and safety belts can perform to restrain and help protect occupants. Small overlap frontal crashes primarily affect a vehicle's outer edges, which may not be directly protected by the known crush-zone structures. Crash forces may go directly into the front wheel, suspension system and firewall. In a small overlap crash which does not engage the main structures of the vehicle it may be possible for the wheel to be forced rearward toward the occupant compartment. It is believed that the safety cage or cab needs to resist such crash forces that aren't tempered by crush-zone structures.
Even though such crush-zone and body (or cab) on frame type structures have long been known, there remains a continuing and significant need to provide added improved impact or crush performance. In particular, there long remains a continuing and significant need to provide additional improved impact performance by better reducing intrusion of the forward structures of the vehicle into the body or cab of the vehicle.